The Economic and Monetary Union and Autonomous Communities: the transformation of the principle of financial autonomy

Abstract

A distinctive feature of the State of Autonomies is the recognition of political autonomy of the Autonomous Communities and, inherent to it and at the same time a necessary instrument to make it possible, the financial autonomy. The Spanish constitutional system provides protection to that autonomy, both at the textual and case-law levels. The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), however, has led a substantial transformation of the financial autonomy as a constitutional value, from the perspective of the spending power, of the Autonomous Communities. This article explores this transformation and identifies three stages —EMU precrisis, EMU in crisis and the current efforts of reforming the EMU and the allocation and management of the European funds for recovery— which have shaped the financial autonomy of the Autonomous Communities. The article analyzes the interaction between the Spanish constitutional system and the European Union Law and points out the latter as an engine of a constitutional transformation and as a decisive factor in the evolution of the State of Autonomies.